Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Operator: Our next question is from Carlo Santarelli of Deutsche Bank.

Carlo Santarelli: Thanks, guys. Just a couple if I may. One of them is going to be really quick. Oliver, the termination fees within iGaming, is $6 million the right number that you guys need to kind of comp for next year?

Oliver Chow: That’s correct. Yes.

Carlo Santarelli: Okay. And then moving on. If you guys — and this might be a little bit more complicated, but if you guys were to just take your install base and the constituents of that between premium and everything else, as of the start of this year and think about the win per day premium that that will provide you as a base level of growth in all things equal domestic scenario in terms of slot GGR and whatnot, on a percentage basis, what would you calculate that as before the the additions obviously?

Matthew Wilson: Yes, that is a pretty complex question, but I guess my initial reaction to that is we have seen a shift away from our public markets install base towards the premium category. So there is a tailwind there in terms of RPDs because the RPDs in the premium category are obviously higher than the public. We do expect through ’24 for that to continue in terms of the ads that come into the installed base to be premium units. So that will be incremental to RPDs over time. That’s the way to think about the construct of our install base and in relation to premium gaming up. So I’d say there’s some upside here from an RPD perspective, given the mix shift and then we would expect our install base to grow over time.

Carlo Santarelli: Okay. That’s helpful. And then just lastly, Oliver, you talked about R&D and CapEx investments and obviously investments on the social side and whatnot. Could you just try and quantify perhaps like the level of magnitude of these investments?

Oliver Chow: Yes. No. Thank you. Yes, listen, we know that R&D and CapEx are called the organic investments are a critical component to our growth as we move forward. So we do see a combined R&D and CapEx target of about 17% at the total level. And obviously, that’s at the gross level between, I would say, a 10% and 7% R&D to CapEx level. So that’s at the gross level. And ultimately, as our revenues continue to scale over time, that will just give us further ammunition to reinvest back into our core and drive sustainable growth over time. So this is absolutely an area of focus for us, and we’ll continue to invest organically as we believe that’s the highest — one of the highest returns of ROI for us.

Carlo Santarelli: Okay. So the numbers go up but the tethering to revenue stays broadly in that 17% range, that’s what you’re saying?

Oliver Chow: Yes, that’s correct. And we’ll continue to evaluate those levels as we move forward.

Operator: We no further questions in the queue, so I’ll turn the call back over to Matt Wilson for any closing remarks.

Matthew Wilson: Thank you, operator. In closing, I would like to acknowledge our Light & Wonder employees whose commitment and dedication made the past year a success and provide us with great confidence for the future. Our global team continues to do inspiring work every day, delivering exciting new content to industry-leading games, utilizing the latest technologies, and create an exceptional customer experience. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead in 2024 as we continue to execute in our strategy in this dynamic environment. Thank you for being with us today and thank you for your support.

Operator: This concludes today’s call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your line.

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